Essential oil plants and varroa

[Finman]

Quote in the wrong place should have bee 'more natural' - remember he first used the recipe over 10 years ago when the use of harder chemicals such as bayvarol and Apistan were recommended. )

apistan came 20 years ago. Fefore that there was coumafos based Perizin.
10 years ago appeared Apistan resistant mites and movement to acids happened.

Just 1998 started EU Varroa Work Group which selected carefully best methods from tens of methods. They made 10 years job in it and now hobby guyes make it better. And wise guys said haaaa, methods are against the law! And some had no digital balance how to measure stuffs.

I have written many times that how hobby guys find those 15 years old methods. Yes, an experienced good guy told!.
No one recommends food oil into the hive. Have you tasted an old oxidised food oli?

Thymol has been used at least 50 years and for everything.

Go on propel heads!

 

[The Cumbrian]

Just a wild thought but I don't suppose anybody knows if there are lots of plants with natural oils in the region where varroa came from.

I just wondered if the natural occurrence of such oils in the forage over centuries had been what had helped the bees to develop the ability to live with the mite.

 

[BeeJayBee]

This might be the follow-up research, dated 2002, but it's only an abstract, not the whole research document http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12797407
In laboratory conditions "Thyme, savory, rosemary, marjoram, dillsun and lavender essences at concentrations of 2 and 1 g/100 g (w/w), caused a mite mortality rate of more than 97% and 95%, respectively. When sprayed on worker honeybees infected with mites, thyme, savory, spearmint and dillsun essences at 2 g/100 g (w/w) caused 43-58% Varroa mortality. "

Just 1998 started EU Varroa Work Group which selected carefully best methods from tens of methods.

Isn't thymol essetially (ooh was that a play on words) an extract of thyme?

I'd thought so too, but this site, http://www.herbsonline.net/thymol-phenolic-compound-from-thyme-oil.html (I don't know how accurate it is) suggests
Thymol is the name of a phenolic compound which can be found in ajowan seeds, thyme oil and horsemint. It is said to be made up of an isomer of carvacrol ... and
The ancient Egyptians were said to use this compound in conjunction with carvacrol to preserve the mummies. Given the fact that it was capable of killing microbes and fungus, it was only perfect for the job at hand. The compound also was extensively used in book binding; since it could kill spores in the books which needed to be rebound after damage from [mould].

Does anybody know why they chose thyme/thymol instead of any of the other essential oils, because the 2002 research seemed to indicate that others could be equally effective? Was it that the product was already available because it's used as an anti-bacterial? (for mouthwashes etc)

I don't know how much, if any, plant oils bees would get onto themselves when they're on lavender. The plant needs to be damaged for it to be released, would working the flowers be enough?

 

[Finman]

Just a wild thought but I don't suppose anybody knows if there are lots of plants with natural oils in the region where varroa came from.

I just wondered if the natural occurrence of such oils in the forage over centuries had been what had helped the bees to develop the ability to live with the mite.

first, varroa has been on Apis mellifera less than 100 years.

I am sure that Britain has more "essential oil plants" more than in Siberia. You have imported all kind of plant to your millions of gardensfrom all over the world. You should not have varroa at all.

the whole idea is humbug. Some believe something and then it is fact.
You continue this discussion even if there is no a faintest fact for it.

Norton has pure thymus meadows on Cyprus. Still hives will die if he does not treat them.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

the whole idea is humbug. .

Humbugs - now that's an idea peppermint treatment and sugar feed all in one
Nice to see finman quoting Dickens and at this time of year, very apt

 

[Brosville]

There is well documented use of essential oils on "strings" in hives (full details on a certain "natural" beekeeping site), apparently with great success.
There has been a misapprehension that you can equate the efficacy of a plant growing, and the use of oils extracted from that plant, applied more directly - if you look at the extraction of essential oils, vast gobbets of plant material are needed to produce a relatively small quantity of essential oil, which obviously is going to be far stronger in it's effects.....
80 kilos of lavender will produce circa 450 ccs of pure lavender oil....

 

[Finman]

There is well documented use of essential oils on "strings" in hives (full details on a certain "natural" beekeeping site), apparently with great success.

that is really new to me! WOW! Well documented by who!..

I wish that in future you use well documented researches and you do not invent yourself from your propel heads everything which you cannot understand . There are in the world tens of universities which research varroa problem all the time.

This is a joke....don't believe it

what do these person share, a wise civil engineer and Santa?
- They boath are fairy tale persons.

 

[Brosville]

pish tosh and rhubarb! (from which one can extract oxalic acid!)

 

[Finman]

.
What is essential oils? It is better to look wikipedia.

They aromatic oils exctracted from plants. In wikipedia you see about 100 different names from rose water to cannabis oil.

We are talking about some stuffs which have lethal effect in varroa but not in bees. It must be a stuff too which does not spoil honey yield as human food.

140 hard chemicals have been tested on varroa.

I saw a fine instrument in internet some days ago. In the hive entrance there is a brush mechanism. When bees fight themselves through the brush, it takes away mites. That is cool!
God showed the mechanism to the inventor during sleep. So he writes.

 

[Hivemaker.]

.
What is essential oils? It is better to look wikipedia.

Holland & Barrett stock quite a lot,you could look in there as well.

 

[Finman]

.

I found from google a research made by Al-Abbabi & Nazer 1998.

They tested 10 aromatic oil and aromatic plant material effect on varroa.
There was lavandel oil too. (i cannot make link with phone).

Best stuffs were worm tree flowers, peppermint oil and clove oil. They called results promising.

So others were not promising and lavandel oil did not get much scores.


According this lavandel oil is not dangerous to varroa.

 

[Hivemaker.]

.
Pike is a fish.

Blenheim lake can be a good spot for catching them.

 

[Nijal]

It always amuses/confuses me to see advocates of 'natural' beekeeping recommending substances that are completely unnatural to the hive. Pure Lavender oil does not occur naturally in the hive and I have found no evidence to suggest that it might be harvested and brought in by bees - unwittingly or otherwise. However, we do know that colonies rely on pheromones and scents for communication and efficient function. Can we say with confidence that the introduction of ANY strong smelling substances the bee's environment does not interfere with this (a little, a lot, how do you tell)?

Are we saying a substance is ok to use because it occurs in nature [rather than being synthesised by a chemical manufacturer]? Surely, at the point you pick, dry, immerse in a solvent or distribute it in a way that changes an environment - you have already strayed from many people's definition of 'natural'.

 

[Hivemaker.]

http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/varroa/varroa2.htm